Townsend, the No. 1 ranked junior girl and reigning Australian Open junior champion, said she came to New York on her own dime.

"Pretty much all the other federations, if they had a No. 1 junior in the world, they would kind of break their backs to bring them to whatever they needed to go to," Townsend said of the USTA's directive. "I'm not going to sit here and say I'm the fastest person or the most agile, because I'm not," she added. "There's definitely room for improvement, but it's a personal opinion."

WATCH: A 2011 look at top junior players, including Taylor Townsend, at the USTA player development center in Boca Raton, Fla.

Townsend, an effervescent 16-year-old native of Chicago, is part of the USTA's funded development program.

After losing in the first round of a professional event in Vancouver this summer, USTA officials told her she was regressing and asked her to return to the USTA's training base in Boca Raton, Fla., for several weeks to get in better shape.

"It was definitely shocking, I have to say," Townsend said of their recommendation. "I was actually very upset. I cried. I was actually devastated."

Townsend said when she returned to Boca Raton, she hit only three times a week for 45 minutes when previously she had trained and played twice a day.

She said she disagreed with the decision but had not decided to break ties with the USTA, especially because of her close affiliation with USTA coach Kathy Rinaldi.

"It's not by a miracle that I got to No. 1," Townsend said. "I worked hard just like everyone else, and I feel like an opportunity was taken from me."

Patrick McEnroe, the general manager of the USTA's player development program, disputed some of the Journal's claims.

He said that he and his staff had recommended that Townsend shut down tournament play for a few weeks and discussed skipping the Open but ultimately supported her appearance at Flushing Meadows.

He said the family went ahead and bought plane tickets to New York for which the USTA would reimburse them.

"We had no part in saying you can't come to the Open at all," McEnroe said on Friday.

McEnroe called it a "communication problem" and said the idea they had suddenly pulled the plug on funding her participation for lack of fitness in New York was "absurd."

"We've been in tennis our entire lives," he said. "We are well aware that there are many different body types, and looks and physiques that are very successful playing on these courts. … We are also well aware that to become an elite tennis player you have to be committed, you have to be fit. … We're trying to make decisions that we think are in the best interest of the player. Do you think we're sitting around going how can we screw this up? How can we not do what's best for Taylor Townsend to progress as a player?"

"Our goal is for her long-term development," McEnroe added. "It has nothing to with weight, nothing to do with body type. It has to do with overall fitness, overall where her game is."

Townsend's mother, Shelia, said that message was not clear.

"They said they wanted her to focus more on her fitness and conditioning," she said Friday. "Those are their words not mine."

McEnroe also mentioned a health issue, but said he could not go into details. Townsend's mother said she had been diagnosed with an iron deficiency, which she told the Journal was "totally manageable."

"It's beyond belief that they did this to her," Navratilova said. "They totally sabotaged her U.S. Open.

"She's 16 years old. The ignorance of what happens to women's bodies is beyond belief.

"I gained 20 pounds in two weeks. I had baby fat, I had it on me. I couldn't get rid of it. It wasn't because of what I was eating.

"I would have been cut from the USTA program."

About the USTA's comments Friday saying there was a communication problem, Navratilova said, "Now they are covering their asses."

Tennis Channel's Justin Gimelstob has watched Townsend play many times and called her a "delightful girl."

"That's a talent that needs to be nurtured and embraced not made to feel self-conscious," he said.

Gimelstob cited the late-career fitness push of Mardy Fish as an example that players mature and evolve at different rates.

"A 16-year-old girl? That's a slippery slope," he said.

Top-seeded Townsend won two singles matches on Thursday that totaled 3 hours and 29 minutes.

On Friday, she lost in the quarterfinals to Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 6-4. She then won her semifinal doubles match with partner Gabrielle Andrews of the USA.

"I can't do anything about it now," she said after reaching the doubles final Friday. "I'm just glad to be here honestly."

Navratilova hopes some good can come out of it in the end.

"Overall, Taylor will get so much support at the end it will be positive, I hope," she said. "She's a junior. She's 16. And she's winning. … She's been a class act."

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